Reciprccating engine



April 12, 1932. J. R; KELLY 1,854,041

RECIPROCATING ENGINE Filed Dec. 22. 1927 PatentedApr. 12, 1932 UNITED srpr s rice REcIPRocA'rING ENGINE Application filed. December 22, 192%, seriai'no.

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic plan of a two stroke cycle, double reciprocating, two single throw crank'shafts, horizontal internal combustion engine, with piston, piston connecting rod and air compressor omitted.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken substantially on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

- Fig. 3 is a fractional end view and crosssection of the engine. 1

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view illustrating the non-return door. I

The primary reason these improvements have been sought for is to obtain a means to conserve the great amount of energy that the bed-plate of all present day reciprocating engines are called upon to dispose of every time an impulse is brought to bear'on the inner surface of the cylinder end and the piston end, especially has this dissipation of power to be provided for in all internal combustion, engines, but still more so in that class of en" gine where the explosion is caused by a very high compression of the fuel in the cylinder. This undesirable waste and variation-m stress, I find. can be dispensed with by utilizing the reason and cause of it, to turn, to assist to turn the crank-shaft or crank-shafts of the engine and this can be accomplished by employing my invention, i. e., constructing an engine the cylinder of which can move to and 'fro in guides or the like, instead of having it a rigid fixture to the bed-plate of the engine, andbyattaching the cylinder with a connecting rod,.rods, or the like to either the same crank-shaft as the piston is attached to. or each attached to a separate crank-shaft and by so doing will make, in either case the crank-shaft or shafts absorb the energy that has hitherto before been dissipated by'bedplates. I A l A double reciprocating engine may be employed to turn the two propeller shafts of a twin propeller sea going vessel, or the twin propeller shafts of an aeroplane, or two crank-shafts of one and the same loco-motive,- in fact in any place where two shafts aresuitably situated and are to be driven simultane-. ously, and the shafts can be coupled together in a similar manner to the driving wheels of 241,977, and in Australia November 21, 1927.

alocomotive, by side-rods, or as depicted Fig. l.

' 1 I will now proceed to show that an engine a directionfrom our left towards our right,

which is attached by the connecting rod Q1 to the crank R1 and will thereby-causethe shaft S1 to'revolve in a direction similar to the pointers 'ofa clock. Also, the same explosion would cause the cylinder 01 to travel going in a direction from our right towards our left and it being attached by the connecting rod T1 to the crank U1 would, thereby, cause the shaft V1 to revolve in a direc-' tion similar to the pointers of a clock,and, were the loads on each shaft S1 and V1 not to vary, then the piston and cylinder would continue to move to and fro so long as an explosion occurred each cycle, but should the loads on either one of the said shafts vary then that member with the reduced load would at once commence to run away, if no means were provided to stop 1t, so to prevent such an occurrence the hnk W1 is tobe commissioned, one end of which is to be attached to the crank U2 and the other end attached to the crank V2. -When the cylinder travelled as said, there being attached to it the arm X1 to which is attached the rod Y1 to which is attached the plunger Z1 that is housedin the stationary air compressor cylinder A2, it also when the plunger travels going in a direc-' tion from our left towardsgour right but when travelling in the opposite direction is to close over the apertures C2 so as to prevent the air in the cylinder escaping. Then should there be nothing to prevent it the plunger would be compressing the air in the cylinder A2 for the full length of the stroke and the air would reach quite a high pressure by the time the plunger had arrived at the end of the stroke, but as such a high pressure is not required, there is an aperture D2 provided to prevent compression taking place until the plunger has passed it. The position of this aperture is to be located by the amount of compression required for each type of engin-e, in fact, it can be made adjustable.

As aforesaid, the piston P1 travels in a direction going from our left towards our right. lVhen the edge E2 of the conduit F2 (this conduit is used for both air and exhaust) in the under surface ofthe base of the cylinder coincides with the ed e G2 of the exhaust passage H2 then the surface 12, i..e., the end of the piston, will coincide with the position now held by the line denoted by J 2 and also the edge K2 in the cylinder of the conduit F2 will also coincide with the line J2 at the same time, and, then is when the exhaust fumes will commence to escape through the passage F2 and exhaust passage H2 and past an inclined suspendednon-return,or; one-way door H4 (Fig. 4) that may be situated between the face P2 3) and the flange of the exhaust pipe H5 that is to prevent the ejected fumes returning into' the cylinder. Also, at the same time as the aperture in the under surface of the base of the cylinder, of the conduit F2 is directly over the aperture in the bed-plate of the exhaust passage H2, so is to be the aperture in the base of the cylinder of the small air conduit L2 directly over the aperture in the bed-plate of the conduit M2 the other end of which is connected with the interior of the air compressorcylinder, then when in this position any compressed air that may bein the cylinder will have a free passage to escape through the conduits M2, L2, and will lift and pass the small ball or non-return valve N2 and through the small apertures 02 into the cylinder, then will push before it any exhausted fumes or residue out through the passage F2 and exhaust passage H2 and past the hereinbefore said non-return door H4, thus effectively functioning scavenging. The cylinder and piston will continue to the outward end of the stroke and when in this position the edge E2 of the conduit F2 will coincide with the edge Q2 in the surface of the bed-plate, of the air intake passage R2 (let it be observed, there is a thin rib a littl wider than the aperture in the base of the cylinder of the conduit L2 that is denoted by S2 across the air intake passa e at'the upper surface of the bed-plate) where the cylinder will be filled with fresh air and a supply of fuel from a gravity tank G3 by way of a pipe H8, ready to be compressed during the return stroke. It may be observed that during the time the edge E2 of the conduit F2 travels going in a direction from the edge Q2 of the air intake passage R2 until it coincided with the edge G2 in the bed-plate of the exhaust passage H2 the cylinder and piston, as they close up, would thrust a portion of the fresh mixture of air and fuel out of the cylinderthrough the ex haust passage, but to prevent such an occurrence, the hereinbefore referred to non-return door is to be suspended, when at rest, not vertical and is to be of such a weight as to resist, until the piston has passed the con duit F2, being lifted by the slightly compressed fuel in the main cylinder. The cylinder and piston will continue to close up till they reach the inner end of the strokeas depicted by Fig. 2, and while doing so will compress the fuel in the cylinder andv this pressure as well as that of the explosive pressure would be exertedthrough the conduit L2 and on to the bed-plate, but to prevent this is why the ball or non-return valve N2 is commissioned. If, when the cylinder and piston reach the inner end of the stroke the compression of the fuel is great enough, an explosion would take place, and no other means of ignition would be necessary, but I prefer the explosion to be caused by a spark plug S, and to take place just after the engine has passed over the dead centre, for then a double reciprocating internal combustion engine can be run in either direction simply by an operator advancing or retarding the time of sparking.

When my invention is applied to an internal combustion engine there are other ad'- vantages to be obtained, which are: First, no air intake or exhaust valves are necessary, nor is any provision to be made to dispense with such members. Second, we have a reversible internal combustion engine.

Third, we can have a two stroke cycle internal combustion engine. Fourth, we have a greatly reduced joint surface in the environment of and when, an explosion takes place. Fifth,- when the cylinder and piston are at the outward end the stroke we can have twice the amount of air to dispose. of than any other internal combustion engine has with the same piston crank throw and cylinder bore. Therefore there is one of three alternative ways in which the mixture of air and duel would, lave to be differently arranged, than is the mixture when used in a single reciprocating engine, to obtain the full power out of a double reciprocating engine, which greatlytends to economy. First, the same amount and kind of fuel can be used, then the mixture before explosion will be weaker, but there will be twice the amount of it." Second, an extra amount of thesame kind of fuel can be used, then the mixture and-terminal pressure will We see that if an indicator diagram is taken- 05 a double reciprocating internal combustion engine, then such a diagram would be circumscribed by a characteristic curve of that particular type of engine. In fact what has been said of the indicator diagram and steam engine is equally applicable to the internal combustion engine If the mixture of air and fuel are made the same strength as that used in a single reciprocating engine of the same crank throw and cylinder bore then there will be almost twice the amount of pow.--

er developed by a double reciprocating engine. Just by way of example, let P reprepiston of a single reciprocating, two stroke cycle, internal combustion engine. And also the total mean effective pressure on each member, i. e., cylinder head and piston of a double reciprocating, two stroke cycle, internal combustion engine, by the impelling medium each impulse, and T the throw of the piston crank. Then the approximate torsional moment on the shaft of the crank-shaft of the single reciprocating engine will be P x T But in the double reciprocating engine it will be P x 2 surfaces x T x 2, or P x T x 4. Furthermore, if we make another comparison but with a four stroke cycle, single reciprocating engine and both engines have the same piston crank throw and make the same number of revolutions per unit of time, then the approximate power developed, say per minute, in the four stroke cycle, single reciproeating engine will be where R represents the number of revolutions per minute. But in a two stroke cycle double reciprocating engine the approximate power per minute will be P x 2 surfaces x (T x2) XR orP xT xR x i. So inany case there must be a great saving by the application of a double reciprocating engine. Even if there is not one ounce more power obtained direct from the impelling medium by having two surfaces to act upon, yet there is twice the crank throw. And both engines being the same power, the double reciprocating engine can be manufactured for less cost than a single reciprocating engine.

It is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the precise details of'construction as hereinbefore set forth, but such changes and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention may be made.

Having thus described my invention, what 'movable piston and cylinder, r

double-throw cranks, COIlIlGOtlIIgIOdS 01 11- .7 M

compressor cylinder,

I claim is new'and desire to secure byLetters Patentis-:--:v 1

v 1. An engine comprising an oppositely shafts having ing the piston andcylinder with respect to one of .eachof the double-throw-cranks, anda link connecting the remaining cranks to syn chroniz'e the motions of the piston and cyl inder. I

2. Annengine"comprising an oppositely movable piston and cylinder, shafts at opposite ends of the cylinder, each having a double-throw crank, connecting rods respectively joining the piston and cylinder with one of each of the double-throw cranks, and a link joining the remaining double-throw cranks to synchronize the movements of the piston and cylinder.

3. An engine comprising a stationary air compressor cylinder, a piston operable therein, an engine piston and cylinder being relatively movable to each other and comprising parts that are relatively movable to said air an arm connecting the compressor piston with one of said parts, and a conduit for conducting aircompressed in the compressor cylinder to the engine cylinder.

fl. An engine comprising an oppositely movable piston and cylinder, a piston connected with the cylinder and movable therewith, and a stationary, air compressor cylinder in which the latter piston is movable, having a conduit connecting it with the engine and having a conduit affording communication of the interior of the cylinder with the outer sliding surface thereof, a port in the cylinder registrable with the exhaust passage simultaneously withthe registration of said conduits upon separating movements of the engine piston and cylinder following a working stroke, and a compressor piston connected with the engine cylinder for driving a charge of air from the compressor cylinder into the engine cylinder for scavenging the latter.

6. An engine comprising a fixed base having an exhaust passage and a conduit, an air compressor cylinder for feeding the conduit, an oppositely reciprocable engine piston and cylinder, said cylinder sliding upon the base and having a conduit affording communication of the interior of the cylinder With the outer sliding surface thereof, a port in the cylinder registrable with the exhaust passage simultaneously with the registration of said conduits upon separating movements of the engiiiepis ton and cylinder following a. work'- ing stroke, a compressor piston connected with'the engine cylinder for driving a charge ofiaiiv from the compressor cylinder into the 5 engine cylinder for scavenging the'latter, and anaintakepassage in the base with'which said port is regisbrable at the end of the Working stroke forflie induction of a charge of combustible fluid into the engine cylinder.

Dated this 22nd day of November, 1927.

JOSEPH REED KELLY. 

